Marc Haze

Host

Marc Haze

Daylina Miller
/ WUSF Public Media

Marc Haze is a host and newscaster at WUSF Public Media. He comes to WUSF Public Media after more than 20 years on local commercial radio. He was news and sports director at WRBQ-FM (Q-105) as well as being part of the morning show team. Long time residents of the Tampa Bay area may remember him as an air personality at several stations.

He grew up in Chicago's Hyde Park community and lives in Treasure Island.

The Tampa Bay Area has some of the best beaches in the nation, and you likely have your favorite. This week on Florida Matters, we're going to take you on a tour of some of those beaches. We take a look at the stress of parking, hear recollections from beach days gone by and find out why some waters are more prone to bacteria than others. Listen to the show here.

This week on Florida Matters (Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 25 at 7:30 a.m.), we’re exploring some of the many beaches around Tampa Bay, with a look at parking, water quality and recollections of beach days gone by.

Recent developments in Treasure Island may indicate a shift in position in its legal battle with some Gulf front hotel owners.

At Tuesday's meeting of the City Commission, City Attorney Maura Kiefer resigned her position rather than submit to a performance review. In a move that may be related, the city has reversed its earlier position and resumed raking its beaches.

The vegetation is growing on the beaches of Treasure Island. Researchers from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium have been told they can no longer use a vehicle to monitor turtle nests. And the concessionaires that work on the beach, many of whom were previously allowed to use a vehicle, now have to carry their gear and clean their areas on foot. It's what the Treasure Island City Manager calls "unintended consequences" of a judge's ruling in a lawsuit. Some of the people affected by the new policies say the city is misinterpreting the ruling.

If you've spent much time around places where alcoholic beverages are sold and consumed, you may have heard the following: "Tequila has to come from Mexico. Champagne has to come from France and bourbon has to come from Kentucky."

That last one is not true.

Bourbon can be made anywhere in the United States, as long as strict rules are followed.

No one has made or sold bourbon legally, using Florida-grown ingredients since before Prohibition.

In this installment of StoryCorps Tampa Bay, Marietta Drucker tells her daughter, Debbie, of her escape from the Nazis when they invaded her native Austria. Drucker was just eight years old. Her parents were not able to get out in time but she was, traveling alone on the Kindertransport-- a train carrying children to England.

She came to the StoryCorps booth with her daughter to share the story of her escape and her journey to America. She begins with the day that changed her life.

In this installment of StoryCorps Tampa Bay, Cleto “Sundy” Chazares, Principal of the Simmons Career Center in Plant City, tells his friend of 40 years, Ron Wardlow, of his dangerous journey from his tiny Mexican village to the Tampa Bay area and of the act of kindness that changed the direction of his life.

Every Monday, WUSF 89.7 presents Story Corps Tampa Bay, and this week’s story comes from a recording at the John F. Germany Public Library in Tampa as part of the “StoryCorps @ your library” series.

Today we meet two professional baseball players who played in the Negro Leagues in the 1940's, Clifford "Quack" Brown and Walter "Dirk" Gibbons. Both men grew up in Tampa and they sat down with their friend, Neil J. Armstrong, who asked about those colorful nicknames.

Sunset Beach's tradition is the Holiday Stroll. It's a cross between Halloween and Christmas, with a dash of New Year’s Eve thrown in for good measure.

A parade route is designated in the neighborhood. Local residents wear costumes. They even dress their pets in costumes. I am ashamed to say many of the costumes are not exactly what one would call "Christmas sensitive." In fact, many would be more appropriate at the Gasparilla Night Parade.

Organizers of next week's Republican National Convention may be experiencing a case of tropical depression.

While it's too early to make landfall predictions, a tropical depression in the Atlantic could intensify into a hurricane and may rain on convention organizers best laid plans.

Tropical depression 9 is headed towards the Caribbean and is expected to soon become a Tropical Storm. Meteorologist Diane Kacmarik at Bay News 9 says conditions look favorable for the storm to eventually become a hurricane.